ABOUT CROSSROADS SPRINGS AFRICA

OUR MISSION: Crossroads Springs Africa, Inc. facilitates secondary and post-secondary education for disadvantaged Kenyan youth so they can reach their potential and become sources of economic and leadership strength in their communities.

OUR VISION: We will ensure that secondary and post- secondary students are effectively educated and that they develop the skills necessary to support themselves and help others, and become a key source of economic and leadership strength in their communities.

LETTER FROM LYDIA ABOUT THE FIELD TRIP

Hello Friends,

We are well and thank God for this far. I would like to first thank our friends from CSA for the love and support towards the Kisumu trip we had with our students.

On the 19th of this month, we took all our high school students to Kisumu for a trip. I had never seen our students with such excitement. almost all of them arrived at Hamisi on time smartly dressed in their uniforms. We put them in groups and assigned staff members and some board members to be in-charge of each group for easy coordination. We held a brief meeting just to give instructions on how to conduct ourselves and the places to visit. Each student was to buy a book or any stationery of his/her choice worth Kshs 1000, ($10.00), given lunch and fare back home.

We left Hamisi at 10.00am in two buses. We arrived at Kisumu and proceeded to 3 different bookshops in town where each student had a chance to buy a book. We later on facilitated the students with cash for their lunch so that everyone can have the freedom to buy whatever they want. The students were very happy about the idea and had an opportunity to buy chips, ice cream, cakes, soft drinks etc.

After buying books we then left for Impala Park. In the buses we had conversations with students, most of them confessed that they had only seen most of the wild animals in books and newspapers and so the thought that they were going to see them live really excited them. At the gate students were asked to queue and get in one after the other as the customer service staff counted them for payment purposes. After payment at the gate we were then allowed to go round the park as we took photos. the tour around the park was so exciting. students made comments like, whaaah! so an ostrich is this big! can it eat someone? some were even scared at animals like lions and leopards thinking they can jump out of their cages and pounce at them. Some were shocked at how tall the tiger is and so on.

From Impala we went to Dunga beach where the main economic activity for people around there is fishing. The students had an opportunity to see how fishing is done and the various nets used for fishing. They also had a clear view of lake Victoria as they took photos. The fresh breeze from the lake was just amazing. The students were like "madam we need to do this more often". From Dunga we got back on our buses and drove back to Hamisi.

On behalf of the students, i would like to thank all our friends at CSA for making this possible. The trip was both entertaining and educative. This is something our students would love to do at least once every year and if possible in company of some of our sponsors. THANK YOU SO MUCH AND GOD BLESS YOU AS YOU CONTINUE SUPPORTING THESE NEEDY CHILDREN.